Final Fantasy VII: Another Side
By:
Mystwalker
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII.
A/N: Man, this chapter took a while to come out. I think my brain's a little fried, but I hope you like the effect. It took turns while I was writing it that I didn't expect.
JazzQueen, yep, poor Seph doesn't really get a break. But she doesn't mean to push his buttons. They're just dysfunctional like that.
Blinded in a bolthole, oh, that's true. I forgot about that—she's only a year older than Yuffie. And as for Jenova...it probably happened when he finally lost his grip on sanity.
Roza Anne, here you go! ^^ Happy to oblige!
Irish-Brigid, well, the conversation would have just been her recounting the day's events. I just needed Cissnei to know about them. Regarding the lady, you'll find out. ^_^ And Shelke doesn't quite remember much yet—that or she isn't at the point where she cares.
Ryuukoshi, yeah, poor Seph. He's so competent everywhere else, but in this, he has no idea what's going on.
Gohan Roxas, thank you! Glad you like it. I worked hard to give Kunsel a distinct but plausible personality based on what we know of him (he's not ambitious but he's loyal and knows more than he should).
Riku Uzumaki, oh you bet. I'm starting to match up the Tsviets to their final opponents. ^^
DJ Meltdown of Ground Xero, thank you! Really glad you liked it!
Furionknight, thanks!
XxXxX
File 017: A New Age
Junon had prepared for the President's inaugural parade in style. The main street had been completely cleared, with the sidewalks cordoned off to keep the crowd at bay. They assembled on the sidewalks en masse, a sea of bodies in the city below. From the way they talked and chatted amongst themselves, one would think that some hero was coming to town. But of course, why wouldn't they act that way? This was Rufus Shinra, the president of the company that was, in some way or another, keeping them alive, if only to remind them how easy it would be to let them all go. Red banners streamed from every available surface, of different shapes and sizes, but all proclaiming the same thing.
Rufus
President of Shinra
A New Age
A new age. She had heard the President's speech on top of the Shinra Building. She knew what sort of new age Rufus was planning. Cissnei folded her arms, feeling a shudder run through her. Rufus Shinra. There was a time when even the Turks had worried what would happen if he were ever to come to power.
Well, it was too late for that now. Cissnei scanned the crowd, looking for any sign of their companions. She thought she caught sight of Aerith, lingering by a street corner, which meant that Zack couldn't be far. Barret and Red she already knew to be further up the road. She didn't see any sign of Kunsel, Yuffie, Tifa, or Cloud. But then, that much was out of her hands as well. They had all found different ways to sneak into Junon this morning. She could only hope that no one managed to get themselves caught.
There were figures in black in the street as well, interspersed here and there. She caught sight of Rude further up, coolly watching the street from a corner, and Elena back down along the parade route, adjusting her earpiece. She had no doubt that Tseng was out there somewhere, probably taking the high ground in this case, to observe the operation.
Much like she had done.
"Security's too tight," she muttered, giving up scanning the buildings across from her for Tseng. "We won't be able to do anything from here."
"Mm," said Sephiroth from beside her. She turned her head slightly, facing him. Sephiroth was leaning against the wall beside the window with his arms folded, looking obviously uncomfortable with the entire situation. He was dressed more casually than Cissnei had ever seen him, his trademark silver hair hidden underneath a dark-colored hoodie. Sephiroth had been surprisingly amenable to the clothing change, after all, no one could deny that he stood out in a crowd. His only stipulation? It had to be black. She snorted softly in memory. Go figure.
"Well, you've got the teenage rebel stance down," she joked, gesturing at his posture. "We just need to get you a pair of headphones, and you're all set."
He gave her a pained look, one that clearly read 'I am a thirty-year-old man, and this is demeaning'. It was such a...human expression coming from him. Seeing it made her have to stifle a laugh. She couldn't quite suppress the smile. "Don't start," he said.
"You've never been on an undercover mission before, have you?" she asked, turning away and looking back at the crowd.
Sephiroth sighed, lowering his hands to his sides. "It was never required," he said. "Usually, by the time I was sent in, the time had passed for such subtlety. I will admit to being...somewhat at a loss as to the protocol required."
"What? Urban warfare not your style?" asked Cissnei, giving him a knowing look.
"Hn." He tilted his head slightly to the opposite side, away from her, his eyes fixing on the wall. It was answer enough.
"And you wanted to leave me behind," she teased. "What would you do without me?"
"I still think you shouldn't have come," said Sephiroth. "You're not fit for active duty."
"And you're probably right about that," admitted Cissnei, glancing away from him and down at the street. "But right now, you can't deny that you guys need me. Besides," she added with a smile, as Sephiroth looked away. "It probably worked out for the best. It's starting to look like we might not be returning to the Harbor tonight."
He looked up at her. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"We're going to need to get in close to Rufus if we want to get any useful information out of him at all," replied Cissnei, frowning as she looked down at the street. The first wave of infantrymen were beginning to filter through, marching in tight formation. "But we don't have an opportunity to get it here. Which means we're going to need to follow him if we want another chance. Onto his ship."
"And how do you propose we do that?" asked Sephiroth, his brows raising.
"I don't," replied Cissnei. "Just yet, anyway. I'm still working that part out."
"Hm." Sephiroth's eyes passed over the rows of infantrymen marching below them. He said nothing for a moment, his expression impassive. Cissnei wondered what he saw there. A memory of his own time as a SOLDIER? No, that couldn't be it. Sephiroth had never had to be subjected to that sort of work. Even at the start of his career, he had always been set apart. He looked up, just as Rufus's white car came into view, the president himself standing inside it, his expression stoic. "You believe the ship will have the answers we need?"
"I can't be certain of that," replied Cissnei. "But...I'd say it was a pretty good guess."
"What makes you say that?" asked Sephiroth.
"Look at the crowd," said Cissnei. "Notice anything odd?"
He looked. She waited. Sephiroth hadn't been trained for this, but he knew how to read a battlefield. As soon as he had his attention directed, he caught on. "No Tsviets."
"Mm," said Cissnei, nodding. "We know they're in this city, thanks to Kunsel. And they're not exactly the type to stay hidden in a crowd. If Rufus doesn't have them out here, I wonder where they all are."
Sephiroth looked away from the parade, staring at the opposite wall. He was silent for what felt like hours, although she was sure it couldn't have been that much time, considering the procession below them hadn't even moved out of her field of vision by the time he spoke again.
"Genesis...is working with the Tsviets," he said.
She nodded. "As far as we know," she said.
"When we fought him, Nero mentioned...her," said Sephiroth. "It makes me wonder, are the Tsviets really under Rufus Shinra's control?"
He watched her closely, with a look she recognized, one that told her he thought she had information she hadn't yet shared. Cissnei took in a deep breath, her hands curling into fists at her side. "The Tsviets..." she began. "...no, all of Deepground was Hollander's answer to Hojo's SOLDIER program."
His eyes widened slightly in surprise. She glanced at him. From the look in his eye, he had come to the same realization that she herself had just come to.
"Which would mean..." he began.
"It's highly likely that just as Hojo used Project S...you...as the model for the rest of the SOLDIER program, the Deepground SOLDIERs were enhanced based on Project G." She looked away, looking back down at the street. "I'm sorry, I don't know much more than that."
"But you know who would," said Sephiroth. It wasn't an accusation, just a statement of fact. Others wouldn't have been as kind. She nodded.
"Hollander," she said. "But from what I know, he's most likely dead. Hojo. Rufus, of course. Tseng, as the Director of General Affairs. Heidegger. And Genesis himself."
"You don't think the Tsviets know?" asked Sephiroth.
"I'm not sure what they know," replied Cissnei. "It's entirely possible that they know no more than Zack and Kunsel did. But whoever's leading them at least has to know what's happening. What I can't figure out is who they answer to. Genesis seems like the most likely candidate, but..."
"It's one of their own," concluded Sephiroth.
Cissnei blinked, looking up at him. "What makes you say that?" she asked.
"Rosso," replied Sephiroth, "And Nero. Two highly unstable personalities. And yet, they've both been fairly tame. They come when they're called, and leave when they're told. That sort of control doesn't happen overnight. It's the product of years of conditioning. They wouldn't answer to someone whom they didn't respect. He would have to be more powerful, charismatic, and above all, he would have had to have shared in their experience somehow. I've spent all of my life at Shinra, and I'd never heard of Deepground. That tells me that Deepground existed as a separate entity, outside of the chain of command I knew. None of the regular SOLDIERs would have ever had contact with them, Genesis included. He wouldn't have had time to form the necessary bonds. So the only other option..."
"They have an internal leader," finished Cissnei. "Someone who acts as the middle man, between Genesis and Rufus. The individual Tsviets aren't following Shinra or Genesis. They're following him."
"And what he decides will determine the allegiances of the others," added Sephiroth.
She exhaled slowly. "This...complicates things," she said.
"Indeed."
Cissnei frowned, thinking it over. There was no helping it. There wasn't much she could do from up here. She took a step back, away from the window. "I need to check on something," she said. "I'll be back."
She saw his expression change, as though he were about to protest. Cissnei quickly slipped out of his line of sight, leaving the room before he could start.
XxXxX
"Man," muttered Zack as a cheer rose up from the crowd around them. "You'd think if they knew what they were getting into, they'd be less enthusiastic."
"They're celebrating, Zack," said Aerith, placing a hand on his arm. "At least for now, that's not really a bad thing..."
"Mm,I guess," said Zack, staring at the crowd. He rested his hands on his waist. "Still...it just feels wrong. And what gets me is if I hadn't gotten involved in all of this, if I hadn't found out what was really going on, I'd be cheering along with them. Heck, I'd be marching."
Aerith sighed, taking a step forward and threading the fingers of her hand through his. "Oh, Zack..." she said. "You can't blame yourself for what you didn't know."
He didn't turn towards her, but he did let her pull his hand away. His eyes were still fixed on the parade, although she could tell that he wasn't really seeing it. His mind was somewhere else. "You know, it's not how much I didn't know that gets me, Aerith," he said. "It's how much I did. If they hadn't gone after me and Cloud personally, I'd probably still be with them." He sighed. "A sane person would have left the minute they saw the monsters in the tubes."
"Zack..."
He took a deep breath, then shook his head, finally squeezing her hand back. He turned towards her, a grin forming on his face. "But enough about that, right?" he asked. "You're right. You're totally right. It's a party. If Shinra's footing the bill, all the better."
Just like that, all the old pain in his eyes was gone, and he looked just as cheerful as he always was. The sight of all of that old guilt disappearing at once made her heart sink, because she knew. She had been there before when he had broken, that day in her church shortly after Angeal's death. She knew when it wasn't real, and what was probably worst of all was that she knew why. She'd seen him, time and again, how he'd change the subject when someone in the group got too depressed, how he kept trying to lead Sephiroth into conversation when Cissnei was still out, how he was always ready to step in with words of encouragement when anyone remembered Sector 7. She'd seen it all, and she could see how the group was coming to rely on that—on Zack being there to support them, to keep them together.
But if you keep taking care of everyone...
...Who's going to take care of you?
She took a deep breath, her thumb brushing over his knuckles.
"You don't have to do that, Zack," she said.
"Do what?"
She bit her lip, meeting his eyes. "Hide from me. You're allowed to be sad. You're allowed to be angry. You're allowed to be hurt. I'm not going to run away."
He stared at her then, the smile melting away from his face. He met her eyes, his own an intense mako blue. Her breath caught in her throat as she caught a glimpse of what lay there. It was so easy to forget, so so easy, that Zack had been hurt too. But she could never forget it. Because she was the only person that Zack let see.
She smiled warmly at him. "There you go," she said. "My hero."
"Aerith, I..." began Zack.
Aerith froze, her eyes moving past Zack as she caught a glimpse of something in the crowd. It had only been for a moment—just a barest glimpse, but she thought she had seen someone. A woman, standing on the street corner watching Rufus's car go by. A woman in a dark pink dress, a violet cloth tied around her waist. Her hair had been long and brown, falling down her back in silken waves, her eyes, a bright brilliant green.
But it had only been for a moment. And now she was gone, if she had ever been there in the first place.
"Aerith?" asked Zack, suddenly concerned. "Aerith, what's wrong?"
She shook her head, turning her attention back towards him. "Nothing," she said, with a nervous laugh. "It's nothing. I just thought I saw..."
She paused. What did she think she saw. Zack stared at her, waiting for an answer.
"Yes?" he asked. "You think you saw...?"
"...My mother," replied Aerith. "But it was just someone who looked a lot like her. It scared me for a moment, that's all."
"Huh..." said Zack. He looked around as well, then turned back towards her. "Well, she did follow us out to Kalm, so I wouldn't put it past her," he joked.
She gave him a slightly nervous smile, looking back at the crowd. The apparition, if that was what it was, was gone. "Right," she said. "But I was just seeing things. Don't worry about it. It was nothing at all..."
XxXxX
The amount of spectacle Junon was putting on to welcome President Shinra was amazing. It was easy to forget that this was the man that had spoken to them on the roof of the Shinra Building, the one that wanted to rule the world by fear. But seeing him, standing there amidst a sea of marching soldiers, dressed in his trademark white suit and staring at the road ahead with a haughty smile on his face, she remembered.
She remembered Nibelheim. She remembered Sector 7. And she remembered loss.
Tifa took a step back into the crowd, one hand still closed around the red Materia Priscilla had gifted her with before they left the Harbor. Shiva. The destroyer. A part of her wondered where Priscilla had gotten something like this in the first place, but she thought it was probably best not to question it. If she didn't know, she couldn't get the little girl in trouble. And she wasn't about to reject a gift.
She wouldn't forget, she decided, keeping her eyes fixed on Rufus. She wouldn't allow herself to.
She would remember, even if no one else did, who this man was and what he was capable of.
Her eyes moved over the crowd, staring at the lines of infantrymen that followed him, all in perfect formation. Her eyes moved over each individual one, finally pausing on the last line of soldiers. There was one infantryman there, one walking a little bit out of formation, as though he hadn't practiced nearly enough. She frowned. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't quite place it.
Her eyes widened as she saw the infantryman take a step forward out of line and scowl, muttering something to himself. Everything clicked, just as it had back then, in Don Corneo's mansion.
—Cloud?
XxXxX
Yuffie let out a groan as Rufus's car continued to creep down the street, agonizingly slow. She kicked the crate she was sitting on in annoyance, bored out of her skull. Why would they even call it a presidential march if it wasn't going to be something at least a little exciting. In Wutai they would have had fireworks or...or something. It was just another reason Wutai was better than Shinra. If she had to stare at the side of Rufus's head any longer, she was going to scream.
"Alright, I'm outta here," she said to herself, bracing her hands on the crate on either side of her and pushing herself off. She landed nimbly on the sidewalk, drawing some angry looks from members of the crowd she had just jostled. Yuffie ignored them, walking up the road. You didn't get to be a Great Ninja by being nice, after all. She looked around, scanning the street for their companions. "Now where did Barret say he was gonna be again...?" she muttered to herself.
Someone bumped into her shoulder, causing her to stumble back. Yuffie let out an 'oof', immediately looking up. "Hey, watch where you're going!" she said.
The man who had bumped into her blinked, looking back at her. She stared at him. He was wearing a different suit today, but there was no mistaking it. She'd met him before. "Oh, sorry about that," he said. "I was thinking about something else."
"Hey, you're that rich kid from the Harbor," she said.
He blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?" he asked, before his eyes widened in recognition. "Oh! Yes, I remember. You're one of the ones that helped me out. Thank you for that, by the way."
"Yeah, no problem," said Yuffie. "You ever find your girlfriend?"
He laughed nervously, glancing to the side. "It...uh, turned out to be a false lead," he admitted. "Although my friends insist she was really there."
"She has to be really something to make you go through all that trouble," commented Yuffie, grinning. "Let me guess. She's hot."
"Well..." admitted the businessman, placing a hand on the back of his head. "She is a redhead..."
"Oh, I see," said Yuffie. "That explains it. Man, what is the deal with redheads anyway? I never saw the appeal. Lemme guess. She's got green eyes too. Freckles?"
"No, actually..." began the man.
"Yuffie!" called someone from the crowd.
Yuffie looked up, turning towards the sound of the voice. She frowned. Cissnei was walking towards her, a slightly worried look on her face. "What's up, Turkey?" asked Yuffie.
Cissnei drew up to them and stopped, her eyes fixing on the man in front of her. The man turned towards Cissnei as well, their eyes meeting. Yuffie's frown deepened as the air between them suddenly became tense.
"Uh, hey—Cissnei..." she said. "This is the guy we met yesterday...but I don't know his name."
"We've met," said Cissnei, coolly.
"Yes," said the businessman, smiling warmly at her with one hand behind his back. "We have."
His hand suddenly whipped around, the end of a nunchuck whirling towards her head. Cissnei ducked out of the way immediately, her eyes narrowed. The nunchuck struck a support beam of the wooden stall behind her. It splintered, spraying sawdust over the street.
Yuffie stared.
END FILE
